Lathe

ABSTRACT

A lathe ( 10 ) includes a support structure ( 12 ) which supports a magazine ( 14 ) in a substantially vertical operative orientation. The magazine ( 14 ) is rotatably supported on a carriage ( 24 ). The magazine ( 14 ) is a multi-spindle magazine and supports a plurality of workpieces. A workstation head ( 40 ) is mounted on the housing ( 18 ). The workstation head defines a plurality of workstations ( 46 ). Each workstation head includes a plurality of working tools.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a machine tool. More particularly, theinvention relates to a lathe.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, there is provided a lathe which includes

a support structure including a support post and a carriage slidablysupported on the support post:

a magazine for holding at least one workpiece, the magazine beingrotatably supported by the carriage of the support structure and beingmounted on the support structure such that said at least one workpieceis arranged substantially vertically when a machining operation isperformed on said at least one workpiece: and

at least one workstation, having at least one working tool, mounted onthe support structure such that a working tool engages an end of saidworkpiece to perform the machining operation while said workpiece ismaintained in its vertical orientation.

The carriage may be slidable with respect to the support post such thatan operative end of the magazine, ie. that end of the magazine inproximity to the workstations, can be moved out of engagement with adrive member and the magazine pivoted to lie substantially horizontallyfor facilitating reloading of the magazine.

The support post may be mounted on a base plate and a housing may bearranged on the base plate adjacent the support post. The housing mayinclude a drive mechanism, coolant reservoirs, etc.

A workstation head may be mounted on the housing, the workstation headdefining the, or each, workstation. The workstation head may bedisplaceably arranged on the housing. Firstly, the head may be rotatablydisplaceable with respect to the housing to facilitate the indexing ofthe workstations. Secondly, the workstation head may be verticallydisplaceable with respect to the housing along a longitudinal axis ofthe magazine.

The lathe may include a control means arranged intermediate theworkstation head and an end of the magazine closer to the workstationhead for controlling feeding of the, or each, workpiece to itsassociated workstation.

The control means may include a gripping means for releasably grippingthe, or each, workpiece and a rotating means for rotatably driving the,or each, workpiece to enable the machining operation to be performed onthe, or each, workpiece. The control means may further include a releasemeans for enabling the workpieces to be released from the grippingmeans.

The gripping means may include a collet for releasably gripping eachworkpiece to be machined. Each collet may be mounted fast with aplanetary gear. Each planetary gear may, in turn, be rotatably driven bya sun gear which is rotated via the drive motor housed in the housing.Thus, the rotating means may comprise the sun gear and the plurality ofplanetary gears. The release means may be a pneumatic diaphragm housedatop the collets or an electromagnetic system.

A plurality of working tools may be accommodated in said at least oneworkstation, said workstation being indexable relative to the magazinesuch that various machining operations can be sequentially carried outon a workpiece associated with said workstation.

Preferably, the magazine is a multi-spindle magazine which is able tohold a number of operative workpieces. Further, the lathe may include aplurality of workstations, one associated with each operative workpiece,so that the machining operation can be performed on each of theoperative workpieces simultaneously. The magazine may be configured tohold spare workpieces in addition to each operative workpiece. By“operative workpieces” is meant those workpieces on which machiningoperations are being, or are to be, carried out. Then by “spareworkpieces” is meant that while certain workpieces, the operativeworkpieces, are having machining operations carried out thereon, otherworkpieces, being the spare workpieces, are held in reserve adjacenttheir associated operative workpiece for subsequent machining operationswithout the need for constant supervision to reload the magazine.

As described above, each workstation may include a plurality of workingtools. Thus, for example, each workstation may have a parting tool, aturning tool, a screw-cutting tool, a boring tool and a plurality ofdrilling tools. Those skilled in the art will, however, appreciate thatthe actual arrangement of tools selected will be dependent on themachining operations to be carried out on the various workpieces.However, each workstation will have the same selection of working tools.

The lathe may be computer controlled. Accordingly, a control cabinet mayhouse control circuitry which controls operation of the lathe, in use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is now described by way of example with reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a three dimensional view of a lathe, in accordance with theinvention, with a magazine thereof in its operative position;

FIG. 2 shows a three dimensional view of the lathe with the magazine inits loading, inoperative position;

FIG. 3 shows a three dimensional front view, on an enlarged scale, ofpart of the lathe; and

FIG. 4 shows a three dimensional rear view of part of the lathe, also ona slightly enlarged scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, reference numeral 10 generally designates a lathe inaccordance with the invention. The lathe 10 includes a support structure12 which supports a magazine 14 in a substantially vertical, operativeorientation as illustrated in FIG. 1.

The support structure 12 includes abase plate 16 on which a housing 18is mounted. The housing 18 houses drive motors, coolant reservoirs,cooling fans, etc which are accessed through an access door 20.

A support post 22 is mounted on the base plate 16 adjacent the housing18. A carriage 24 is slidably mounted on the support post 22 and isdriven via a chain-drive assembly 26 (FIG. 4) and a geared motor 28. Themotor 28 is supported on the support post 22 by a bracket 30.

The magazine 14 is rotatably supported on the carriage 24 by a gimblearrangement 32 which includes a stewing bearing. The gimble arrangement32 is arranged approximately midway along the length of the magazine 14.

Further, it is to be noted that the support post 22 comprises two,spaced rails 34 defining a gap 36 between them through which themagazine 14 fits, as illustrated in FIG. 2 of the drawings, for loadingthe magazine 14. The loading of the magazine 14 will be described ingreater detail below.

The magazine 14 is a multi-spindle magazine and supports a plurality ofworkpieces thereon. In the embodiment illustrated, the magazine 14supports twenty-four workpieces, in the form of rods 38, of which sixrods 38 are shown and are the “operative workpieces”, as defined above,the remaining rods being “spare workpieces” also as defined above.

The lathe 10 includes a workstation head 40 mounted on the housing 18.The workstation head 40 is displaceable on a z-axis as indicated byarrow 42 (FIG. 3) and is also rotatable relative to the housing 18 in ahorizontal or x-plane as illustrated by the arrow 44 in FIG. 3 of thedrawings.

The workstation head 40 defines a plurality of workstations 46. It willbe appreciated that there are an equal number of workstations 46 asthere are operative workpieces or rods 38, ie., excluding the spareworkpieces. Accordingly, in the illustrated embodiment, six workstations46 are arranged at circuniferenitially spaced intervals on the head 40although only one workstation 46 is illustrated for the sake of clarity.

Each workstation 46 includes a plurality of work tools. For example,each workstation 46 has a parting tool, a turning tool, ascrew-threading tool, a boring tool and a plurality of drilling tools,for example, three drilling tools.

A control means or drive head 48 is arranged intermediate an indexingplate 50 at the bottom end of the magazine 14 and the workstation head40. The drive head 48 feeds the rods 38 to, and controls the rotation ofthe rods 38 relative to, the workstations 46. Due to the verticalorientation of the magazines 14, the rods 38 to be machined are fedunder gravity to the workstations 46. Accordingly, a gripping means isincluded in the drive head 48 for gripping the rods 38 when in theiroperative positions. Each gripping means is in the form of a colletarranged in the drive head 48. Each collet, in turn, is mounted fastwith a planetary gear (not shown) arranged in the drive head 48. Theplanetary gears are mounted around and are driven by a sun gear via adrive motor mounted in the housing 18 to rotate the rods 38, in use. Acollet release system 52 is mounted on the drive head 48. When springs54 of the collet release system 52 are compressed by a diaphragm 56, thecollets open allowing the rods 38 to be fed to their associatedworkstations 46. It is to be noted in FIG. 3 of the drawings that one ofthe rods 38, as illustrated at 38.1, is shown extending through thedrive head 48 in its operative position relative to its associatedworkstation 46.

The lathe 10 is computer controlled and, accordingly, includes a controlcabinet 58 in which the relevant processing circuitry is mounted. Anoperator operates the lathe 10 via a control panel 60 on the controlcabinet 58. It will be appreciated that, instead, the control cabinet 58could form part of the housing 18.

In use, to load the magazine 14, the indexing plate 50 of the magazine14 is raised out of engagement with the collet release system 52 of thedrive head 48. The magazine 14 is then swivelled relative to thecarriage 24 about the gimble arrangement 32 until it adopts asubstantially horizontal orientation as shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings.The rods 38 are loaded into the magazine from the end 62. Once all therods 38, including the spare workpieces, have been loaded, the magazine14 is then again raised to its vertical orientation, shown in FIG. 1 ofthe drawings, such that the indexing plate 50 engages the collet releasesystem 52 of the drive head 48.

The magazine 14 is rotated about its longitudinal axis until openings inthe indexing plate 50 are brought into register with openings in thecollet release system 52 of the drive head 48. When this occurs, therods 38 drops under gravity through their associated collets. To controlthe position at which the rods 38 are placed relative to theirassociated workstations 46, the parting tool of each workstation 46 isplaced in position beneath each rod 38 such that the end to be machinedof each rod 38 drops on to the parting tool. The workstation head 40 islowered with each rod 38 bearing against the top of its associatedparting tool until the ends of the rods 38 are in their requiredpositions relative to the workstation 46. The collets clamp the rods 38in this position while the workstation head 40 is lowered further withrespect to the housing 18. Various machining operations are then carriedout on the end of each rod 38 by appropriate choice of tool,manipulation of the workstation head 40 and rotation of the rods 38 bythe drive head 48 of the magazine 14. As each machining operation iscompleted, the workstation head 40 is indexed or rotated, in thex-plane, to bring the next tool into position relative to the end of therod 38 to effect the machining operation which that tool is equipped todo on the end by the rod 38. Once machining has been completed, ie. thefinished item has been formed, the final operation carried out at theworkstation 46 is the parting of the finished item from the remainder ofthe end of each rod 38. This is effected by the parting tool whichremains in position beneath the end of the rod 38 so that, when thefinished item is parted from the end of the rod 38 and the collets arereleased, the rods 38 drop under gravity on to the parting tools again,as described above, to be brought into position relative to theworkstations 46. When a supply of rods 38 has been exhausted, themagazine 14 is rotated relative to its plate 50 to bring a spareworkpiece into alignrment with each opening in the plate 50 again to befed through the drive head 48 to the workstation head 40.

It is to be noted that a swarf channel 64 is defined below theworkstation head 40. A swarf conveyor or plate 66 feeds swarf into thechannel 64 to clean out the channel 64. A cleaning finger (not shown) ismounted to extend into the channel 64 and, driven by a motor, swarf canbe removed from the channel 64.

Coolant is directed on to the tool from galleries in the gear box fed upthrough the center column through holes adjacent to the collets. It actsas direct cooling on bearings in the gear box. Also, coolant iscirculated back to the coolant tank in the housing 18 by internal drainsunder the swarf table 66.

It is a particular advantage of the invention that, due to the verticalmounting of the magazine 14, the footprint of the lathe 10 is smaller byapproximately 90° than other lathes having horizontal magazines of whichthe applicant is aware. Further, feeding of the rods 38 to theworkstations 46 is facilitated by the vertical orientation of the rods38. Also, as the rods 38 are rotating about a vertical axis, lash of therods 38 is inhibited resulting in a less noisy working environment. Thisalso allows much higher speeds to take advantage of modern tools. Stillfurther, hollow bar or tube can be readily machined as coolant is unableto flow up through the vertically arranged bar or tube.

Another major advantage of the invention is that multiple items can bemanufactured simultaneously. In this regard it is to be noted that thelathe 10 could have any number of workstations 46 depending on thecomplexity of the components or items to be manufactured. Due to thefact that multiple items can be manufactured simultaneously, a very highproduction rate can be achieved with the resultant cost savings.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerousvariations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown inthe specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope ofthe invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are,therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A lathe which includes a support structureincluding a support post and a carriage slidably supported on thesupport post; a multi-spindle magazine for holding a number of operativeworkpieces, the magazine being rotatably supported by the carriage ofthe support structure and being mounted on the support structure eachworkpiece is arranged substantially vertically when a machiningoperation is performed on said workpiece, the magazine being configuredto hold spare workpieces in addition to each operative workpiece; and atleast one workstation; having at least one working tool, mounted on thesupport structure such that a working tool engages an end of saidworkpiece to perform the machining operation while said workpiece ismaintained in its vertical orientation.
 2. The lathe of claim 1 in whichthe support past is mounted on a base plate and in which a housing isarranged on the base plate adjacent the support post.
 3. The lathe ofclam 2 in which a workstation head is mounted on the housing theworkstation head defining the, or each, workstation.
 4. The lathe ofclaim 3 in which the workstation head is displaceably arranged on thehousing.
 5. The lathe of any one of the preceding claims which includesa control means arranged intermediate the workstation head and an end ofthe magazine closer to the workstation head for controlling feeding ofthe, or each, workpiece to its associated workstation.
 6. The lathe ofclaim 5 in which the control means includes a gripping means forreleasably gripping the, or each, workpiece and a rotating means forrotatably driving the, or each, workpiece to enable the machiningoperation to be performed on the, or each workpiece.
 7. The lathe ofclaim 1 in which a plurality of working tools is accommodated in said atleast one workstation, said workstation being indexable relative to themagazine such that various machining operations can be sequentiallycarried out on a workpiece associated with said workstation.
 8. Thelathe of claim 1 which includes a plurality of workstations, oneassociated with each operative workpiece, so that the machiningoperation can be performed on each of the operative workpiecessimultaneously.